Well, we saw the Aqua St Charles cabinets last week, now we will move onto the Pink St Charles cabinets. What a wild story this one was!

Jan/Sablemable sent an e-mail out to Ruth and I showing these pink cabinets that were available in Grand Rapids Michigan. I went a little crazy for them because they have 2 qualities I really love! They are from the 1950s and they are pink! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! After a lot of finagling we were able to finally get these cabinets back to AZ.

Here is where the cabinets came from. And no, this is not a house. This is the “pool house”.

Oh my.

This is one of the houses on the estate. It is the main house, but I could not get close enough to get a picture of it because of all the HUGE trees around the house. The house was huge though. Apparently the husband and wife who owned the main house built each of their 5 children a house on this estate back in the 1940s and 1950s. The estate was probably around 15 or 20 acres. At the time I got these cabinets I believe most of the land was being sub-divided up to build more houses on.

I digress, back to the pool house. This was not just the pool house, this was also the maid and butler quarters. The right and left back corners (where the square windows are) were servants quarters on both the upper and lower levels. The pink St Charles cabinets actually came out of the servants quarters, if you can believe that. I can’t even begin to imagine how rich these people were to have put St Charles cabinets in the servants quarters. Lord have mercy. There was this huge grassy courtyard in the middle, as you can see, and the pool was through that arched doorway to the extreme right.

Wow!

These are all pictures back from when the cabinets were originally still installed in the pool house servants quarters.

We have 2 glass storage/display units. The catalog calls these ” Midway Units”. The lighting comes from a recessed light in the cabinet above the Midway Unit.

Yay! Look at all that storage!

This is called a “Swing-out Shelf” cabinet. I love how you can put little bottles and things in here and they won’t get lost at the back. Awesome idea!

Here is our “Swing Shelf Corner Unit”. These cabinets have really cool swing out shelves so you can store stuff all the way to the back!

Here is the bottom swing shelf. Everything is super easy to reach.

Another picture of the Midway Unit. You can see the recessed lights in the cabinets from this view.

St Charles sink base!

I thought this unit was really cool. It is called the “Handy Unit”. The catalog states this cabinet has a “convenient sliding shelf at top for rolling pins and divided space below for trays and cookie sheets”. Neat-o!!!

Here is the “Utility Drawer” unit. I love all the drawers and sliders on these cabinets.

And finally, the “Curved Base End Unit”. Love!

And here is everything now. Unfortunately, it sits in storage until we can find a lovely little retro house. Soon – I hope…… real, real soon. Thanks everyone for your kind wishes in the search for our retro dream house, it really does mean a lot to me. 🙂

And, for anyone who was wondering – ALL the blue tape has been removed while these cabinets sit in storage! Thanks for the tips and help though!

11 Responses to Our Vintage Pink St Charles Cabinets

Wow Sara, all of the unique features on those cabinets are great! I think you have to hold both cabinet sets until you get your house, then figure out what works best and sell the other set. Glad you saved the pink set, they’re awesome.

Deb – Thanks! I am actually going to use both colors in my kitchen, kind of like the first picture (the pink and yellow kitchen from the Sherwin Williams book) I showed at the beginning of my post on the aqua cabs. It might be a bit more Mondrian though. We will just have to see how it all works out!

Uncle Atom – I will definitely use both sets actually. I am aiming for my kitchen to kind of look like the first picture (from the Sherwin Williams book) I showed at the beginning of my post on the aqua cabs, the yellow and pink kitchen. It might look a bit more Mondrian though. We will just have to wait and see once I find that dream house!

Pam – Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

Betty – *passes Kleenex* That is definitely the plan to mix the aqua and pink cabinets! The kitchen might have a slight Mondrian look to it. I guess I just have to see how it all lays out once we find a place!

Shelly – Thanks! If I ever find a our retro dream house and it already has an intact vintage kitchen, you will be the first one I contact!

Andrea – That is what I love most about these cabinets, all of the amazing details!

I know this is little late to chime in, but I just found this post. Your pink St Charles cabinets are lovely and I can’t wait to see them installed in your “new” home. My folks were married in 1958 and I grew up near St Charles, Illinois. I recall my mom saying that in the early days of their marriage, my dad worked for a factory she referred to as “St Charles Kitchens”, making cabinets. Never realized what a big deal that was until I saw your post today. I’ll have to call them and see what he remembers about that job. I wonder if their first house had St Charles cabinets?

I forgot to update my above comments. I talked to my dad last month about his days when he was working at “St. Charles Kitchens” which was indeed the cabinet making factory. Apparently my dad worked in their shipping department and my grandfather was a night watchman for a time. The only St. Charles cabinet we owned was a locked box which I remember always sitting on the floor of my parent’s bedroom closet. They used it as a safe for important papers, but it turns out it was actually intended as a small medicine cabinet for doctor’s offices for medicines that needed to be locked up securely. I asked my father if he had any special memories about his job there. He said one of the kitchen cabinet shipments he oversaw was to a Mr. Alfred Hitchcock in California! So on the inside door of one of those cabinets, my dad took a removable marking pen and wrote the message, “Hiya Al! from Darrel Brewington.” LOL

About

We are a small group of dedicated Mid-Century fans with a simple goal: To share a piece of Mid-Century Americana with you every day. If you want to know more about our site and our authors, please visit our About Page!